Refrigerator-alarm.



No 745,537. PATENTED 13130.1, .1903,

I T. VARIN & D. M. BUYER3. I

REFRIGERATOR ALARM.

AIiPLIULTIOH FILED 25. 1903' K0 MODEL.

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' UNITED STATES Patented December 1, 190$;

PATENT @FFIGE.

THOMAS VARIN, or n'noontvu, AND DAVID M. nurses, or ASTORiA,

NEW roan.

REFRIGERATOR-ALARM.

SPECIFiCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,537, dated December 190 Application filed March 25, 1903. Serial No. 149.557. (No model.)

T 0; whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, THOMAS VARIN, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and DAVID M. BUYERS, residing at Astoria, county of Queens, State of New York, citizens of the United States,have invented a newand useful Refrigerator-Alarm, of which the following is a specification.

Qur invention has for its object to provide a simple and inexpensive float-alarm adapted for general use in connection with drip-pans and especially adapted for use in connection with the water-pans of refrigerators to indicate when the pan is sufticiently filled with water to require emptying, the alarm being so constructed as to give warning in ample time to avoid danger of spilling water in movin g the pan.

With this end in view we have devised the simple, durable, and inexpensive float-alarm, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, reference characters being used to designate the several parts.

Figure l is a plan view illustrating a form of the invention in which the alarm complete is sold independently and may be attached to any pan; Fig. 2, a section on the line 2 2 in Fig. l, the frame or case of the alarm being broken away to show the float and the man ner in which it is pivoted.

It is of course well understood that refrigerator-pans are a source of continual annoyance to housekeepers, as it is easy to forget to empty them, and not infrequently serious damage results from their overflowing.

' This invention provides an alarm for waterpans or a water-pan provided with an alarm so constructed as to be practically certain in operation and capable of giving an alarm long enough and loud enough to do away with all danger of the alarm passing without notice.

It is, furthermore, an important feature of the invention that the alarm in either form in which it is provided is so inexpensive to make and so easy to apply when detachable as to place it within the reach of all users of nary or preferred construction, a float 11 within the frame or casing, an ordinary springoperated call-bell 12, and operating mechanism intermediate the float and the bell. I

13 denotes a drip-pan which may be made of any suitable material, as wood, paper, or pressed steel or copper. It made of metal, the pans are ordinarily japanned or tinned. In the form illustrated thecframe or case is provided with a clamping-spring 14:, by which it is removably attached to the pan. The frame or casing is either made open or provided with an opening or openings 15 to pen mit free entrance of water.

The float is a ball-float and'is shown as carried by one arm of a bell-crank lever which passes through an opening in the frame or casing and is pivoted to the wall of the easing, as at 17, the other arm thereof extending upward and being provided with wings 18, which engage and loosely retain a lever 19, pivoted to the casing-or to an arm extending therefrom, as at 20. The base 21 of the bell is rigidly secured to the frame or casin g, and the cap 22 is an ordinary winding-cap common in this class of bells. lVe have not illustrated the construction of the bell, as specifically it forms no portion of our present invention. In the form illustrated the bell is shown as operatedby a push-rod 23, which is engaged by the upper end of lever 19.

The operation of this form of the invention will be obvious at a glance. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that when the water rises in the pan as high as it can safely and permit of the pan being conveniently handled without spilling water the float will be raised thereby and will swing the bellcrank lever, which in turn will push thelower end of lever 19 outward, causing the upper end of said lever to move inward and. push in rod 23, which operates the bell.

Our invention as described and illustrated is not only simple and inexpensive, but it is also compact, and is so constructed that the float is protected from injury, while the bell is so supported that there is no liability of its becoming rusted, due to any water spilling thereupon from the pan when. the latter is moved.

As is well known, refrigerator drippans are usually quite wide and relatively shallow and even when they are not nearly full Water is liable to be spilled over the edge when the pan is pulled out from beneath a refrigerator or when being carried to a sink for emptying. A device constructed according to either of the illustrated embodiments of our invention provides a frame or casing which surrounds the float and therefore protects it from injury, the bell being supported by the same frame or casing. This location of the bell above the casing insures a location for said bell that will always be above the level of the Water, even if the latter is accidentally spilled over the edge of that portion of the pan adjacent to which the alarm is located.

In addition to the above-mentioned advantages, due to the bell being supported by and above a float-protecting casing, our invention possesses a further advantage that all of the parts are located within the vertical plane of the side Wall of the pan, and therefore no part of the device can becomeinjured by contact with the wall back of the space under a refrigerator when a pan with our alarm device is pushed into such space.

Having thus described our invention, we claim An alarm of the character described, comprising a casing 10, a bell supported by said casing and having an operating push-rod, a lever extending through the wall of the casing and pivotally supported thereby, a float connected to one end of said lever within the casing, and a second lever having its upper end adapted to operate the push-rod and its lower end in the path of movement of the free end of the float-lever, whereby said float when lifted will actuate the bell through the medium of said levers.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS VARIN. DAVID M. BUYERS. Witnesses:

HELEN M. VARIN, EMMA BUYERS. 

